WWUTT 419 Solomon's Love for God?

David’s Charge to Solomon and the Call to Love the Lord

Before David died, he told his son Solomon that if you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, there will always be an heir of yours on the throne. And so likewise, if we love the Lord our God, we will always have entrance into the kingdom of God when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When We Understand the Text is an online ministry dedicated to teaching the Word of God in context, promoting sound doctrine while exposing the faulty.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. It is Thursday and we continue our Old Testament study in the book of 1 Kings, which we started two weeks ago. We did our introduction to 1 and 2 Kings. We went through chapter 1 and now ready to resume two weeks later with chapter 2.

So to just kind of recap everything that we read in chapter 1, David's son Adonijah, who was Absalom's full brother, decided to make himself king. And so he gathered some people together, had his own little ceremony.

He's exalted himself as king. Bathsheba found out about this, as well as the prophet Nathan. And this goes against what David had decreed to Bathsheba, that Solomon was going to be king over Israel. So both Bathsheba and Nathan come to David.

They tell him what has gone on. And so David says, well, here's what we're going to do. And so devises this plan to ensure that Solomon is going to be king over Israel and that Adonijah's plot is going to fail.

And so Solomon is put on David's donkeys, paraded through the city. The people sing his praises. Nathan anoints him with oil. Adonijah finds out about this and now he's quaking in his boots. And so he goes to the altar and grabs hold of its horns and says, hey, the moment that Solomon says he's going to spare my life, I'll come out.

But until then, I'm safe right here. Adonijah thinks that as long as he's clinging to the altar, Solomon won't strike him down because you don't want human blood to get onto the altar. And so Solomon is merciful and he spares Adonijah's life.

David’s Final Instructions and the Covenant Promise

But we're going to see the relationship between Solomon and Adonijah change as we enter into into chapter two here. So First Kings chapter two, starting in verse one, when David's time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon, his son, saying, I am about to go the way of all the earth.

Now, there's a humbling statement for you right there that all the earth is wasting away. Everything is going to perish. And so David says, just as it's happening with the earth, I'm going to die as well.

So the stuff that we have right now, it's wasting away as we have it. The things that we think make us happy is the stuff of tomorrow's garbage bins and trash heaps and garage sales. OK, the stuff just simply doesn't last.

And so it's a sobering reality for us to hear this statement from David. I'm about to go the way of all the earth. You, too, one day will die unless, God willing, Jesus comes back before your final breath.

So so David says to Solomon, be strong and show yourself a man and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn, that the Lord may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, If your sons pay close attention to their way to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.

So what does it mean to be a faithful king in the service of God, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength? The first and greatest commandment. And this is what David is is telling Solomon to do as well.

David goes on. Moreover, you also know that Joab, the son of Zeruiah, you know what he did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner, the son of Ner and Amasa, the son of Jether, whom he killed, avenging in time of peace for blood that he had that had been shed in war and putting the blood of war on the belt around his waist and on the sandals on his feet.

Act, therefore, according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace, but deal loyally with the with the sons of Barzillai, the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table.

For with such loyalty, they met me when I fled from Absalom, your brother. And there is also with you Shimei, the son of Gerah, the Benjaminite from Baharim, who cursed me with a grievous curse on the day when I went to Mahanaim.

But when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord, saying, I will not put you to death with the sword. Now, therefore, do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man. You will know what you ought to do to him and you shall bring his gray head down with blood to Sheol.

This is the man who was walking alongside David on the road, throwing rocks at him and cursing him. And Joab wanted to go strike him down. But David said, no, don't do it, because God has sent him to me since I have sinned against the Lord.

So David didn't strike him down, but he's telling Solomon, you take care of him. Verse 10,. Then David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David, which is Bethlehem. And the time that David reigned over Israel was 40 years.

He reigned seven years in Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem. So Solomon sat on the throne of David, his father, and his kingdom was firmly established. The words that David shared with Solomon, his last words, these were not only words from the covenant that God had made with David, but he was also quoting to him from Deuteronomy, from the law of Moses, as David had mentioned there to Solomon.

Adonijah’s Bid for Abishag and Solomon’s Judgment

So we go on here. Verse 13,. Then Adonijah, the son of Haggith, came to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, and she said, Do you come peacefully? And he said, I come peacefully. And then he said, I have something to say to you.

And she said, Speak. He said, You know that the kingdom was mine and that all Israel fully expected me to reign. However, the kingdom has turned about and become my brother's, for it was his from the Lord.

And now I have one request to make of you. Do not refuse me. And she said to him, Speak. And he said, Please ask King Solomon. He will not refuse you to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife. Bathsheba said, Very well, I will speak for you to the king.

Now, remember, Abishag the Shunammite was she was basically David's body warmer as David was getting older and was growing and was growing cold because he could not provide enough heat for himself. His men decided we need to find a woman to be next to him and keep him warm.

This is not a woman that David knew sexually. She was just his body warmer. She was just close to David. And it was a beautiful woman named Abishag the Shunammite. And so this is who Adonijah is asking to become his wife.

So verse 19, Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her and bowed down to her. Then he sat on his throne and had a seat brought for the king's mother.

And she sat on his right. And then she said, I have one small request to make of you. Do not refuse me. And the king said to her, make your request, my mother, for I will not refuse you. She said, let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah, your brother, as his wife.

And King Solomon answered his mother. And why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, for he is my brother. And on his side are Abiathar the priest and Joab the son of Zeruiah.

Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, God, do so to me. And more also, if this word does not cost Adonijah his life now, therefore, as the Lord lives, who has established me and placed me on the throne of David, my father, and who has made me a house, as he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today.

So King Solomon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and he struck down Adonijah and he died. Now, that's an interesting twist of things. There are things that kind of took a little bit of a turn there between Solomon and Adonijah.

Why? Well, because Solomon knew in his wisdom that when Bathsheba came and made this request to Solomon, that it did not come from her. It came from Adonijah, who was asking Bathsheba to ask this of Solomon.

Now, remember that Absalom, Adonijah's brother, when he was attempting to take over the kingdom from David, one of the things that Absalom did to show Israel that David's kingdom was now his, was Absalom went into David's concubines.

And he took the concubines to himself and he slept with them. And so this was to show that all that had previously belonged to David now belongs to me. And so Adonijah seems to be plotting the same thing that that Absalom did.

If I can have the king's body warmer, basically the last woman who was with the king, Abishag the Shunammite, then it's going to be seen by the men who previously thought this kingdom was mine. And all of those who had worshipped me as king, because that's something that that Adonijah says to Bathsheba, you know that the kingdom at once belonged to me, but it was the Lord's will that it would belong to Solomon.

And so if Adonijah can have Abishag the Shunammite, then he could begin once again, this progression to perhaps claiming the kingdom for himself. Solomon is a wise man and he recognizes that that is the condition of Adonijah's heart, that he's not truly repentant of what he tried to do when he was trying to claim the kingdom for himself.

So because the condition of his heart has not changed and he's going to continue to try to claim the kingdom for himself, Solomon has a decree that Adonijah is to be put to death. And that's exactly what happened.

Abiathar, Joab, and Shimei Face Solomon’s Justice

So then in verse 26, and to Abiathar the priest, the king said, go to Anthoth to your estate, for you deserve death. But I will not at this time put you to death because you carried the ark of the Lord God before David, my father, and because you shared in all my father's affliction.

So Solomon expelled Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, thus fulfilling the word of the Lord that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. And that was talked about in first Samuel. Verse 28 now, when the news came to Joab, for Joab had supported Adonijah, although he had not supported Absalom, Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and caught hold of the horns of the altar.

And when it was told King Solomon, Joab has fled to the tent of the Lord and behold, he is beside the altar. Solomon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, saying, go strike him down. But Benaiah came to the tent of the Lord and said to him, the king commands, come out.

But he said, no, I will die here. Then Benaiah brought the word to the king again, saying, thus said Joab. And thus he answered me. The king replied to him, do as he has said, strike him down and bury him and thus take away from me and from my father's house the guilt for the blood that Joab shed without cause.

The Lord will bring back his bloody deeds on his own head, because without the knowledge of my father, David, he attacked and killed with the sword two men more righteous and better than himself, Abner, the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa, the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.

So shall their blood come back on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever. But for David and for his descendants and for his house and for his throne, there shall be peace from the Lord forevermore.

Then Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, went up and struck him down and put him to death. And he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. The king put Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, over the army in place of Joab.

And the king put Zadok, the priest, in the place of Abiathar. And so recognize here that though Adonijah and then Joab grabbed hold of the horns of the altar thinking that that would keep them safe, ultimately, that that is not that that that wasn't going to work out.

And Solomon had him struck down because he likewise was not repentant. Instead, he knew his guilt and went to the altar to try to save his own life. And so Solomon had him struck down. Verse 36. Then the king sent and summoned Shimei and said to him, build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there and do not go out from there to any place.

Whatever. For on the day that you go out and cross the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall die. Your blood shall be on your own head. And Shimei said to the king, what you say is good as my lord.

The king has said, so your servant will do. So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days. But it happened at the end of three years that two of Shimei's servants ran away to Achish, the son of King of Gath.

And when it was told, Shimei, behold, your servants are in Gath. Shimei arose and saddled a donkey and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants. Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath. And when Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and returned, the king sent and summoned Shimei and said to him, did I not make you swear by the Lord and solemnly warn you, saying no for certain that the day that you go out and go to any place, whatever you shall die.

And you said to me, what you say is good. I will obey. Why then have you not kept your oath to the Lord and the commandment with which I commanded you? The king also said to Shimei, you know in your own heart all the harm that you did to David, my father.

So the Lord will bring back your harm on your own head. But King Solomon shall be blessed and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever. Then the king commanded Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck him down and he died.

So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon. And it is by this bloodshed that peace has been brought now to the kingdom of David, to the kingdom of Solomon. And Solomon will experience 30 years of peace in Israel.

But his heart will go after other gods. And so God will cut off his inheritance from the land. David said to Solomon, as long as you love the Lord, your God with all your heart and with all your soul, there will always be an heir of yours on the throne in Israel.

But because Solomon does not do that, he loses the throne of Israel. It is by his sons that the kingdom will be divided into the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. And eventually the Babylonians will ride in and take over the kingdom because Solomon did not love the Lord with all his heart, soul, mind and strength.

The Warning for Kings and for Everyone Else

And so let that be the lesson for us, that we love the Lord, our God, to the very core of our being with everything that we are. It is the first and greatest command that God expects of kings and God expects of vagabonds.

So we should all love the Lord, our God, above all. Let us pray. Our God put it into our hearts to know you through Jesus Christ, your son, and worship you with everything that we are. And worshiping you means that we stay away from any impurities, anything that is against the law of God.

For just as Shimei broke the command of the king, if we break the commands of the king, what we deserve for that is death. So in Jesus Christ, our Lord, let us be cleansed and purified of our sins, stand before God as righteous, justified in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And have been promised according to the scriptures that we are fellow heirs of the kingdom of God. If we love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. So teach us these things as we go. In the name of Jesus, we pray.

Amen. This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry when we understand the text.